Non-psychoactive marijuana ingredient could help addicts stay clean

A preclinical study in rats has shown that there might be worth in using a non-psychoactive and non-addictive ingredient of the Cannabis sativa plant to decrease the risk of relapse among recuperating drug and alcohol addicts. The study’s findings inform the continuing debate about the likely medical advantages of non-psychoactive cannabinoids, and the way that these may be used as therapeutics.

Staying drug-free is a continuous battle for sober addicts. This struggle is made more problematic when former-addicts find themselves in drug-related settings, experience stress or higher levels of anxiousness. Many fight to control their impulses when offered an addictive drug like alcohol or cocaine.
The scientists applied a gel containing CBD once per day for a week to the skin of the rats in the present study. These animals had a history of voluntary daily alcohol or cocaine self-administration, leading to addiction-like conduct. Various tests were done to see how they responded to stressful and anxiety-provoking circumstances and behavior in tests of impulsivity, a psychological trait associated with drug addiction. The researchers reported that CBD successfully condensed relapse motivated by stress and drug cues; CBD also condensed anxiety and impulsivity in the drug-experienced rats.
Further studies presented that CBD was completely cleared from the brain and plasma of the rats three days after the therapy was finished. Quite unpredictably though, five months later, experimental animals that had been treated with CBD still presented a condensed relapse brought by stress or drug cues. The authors of the study have faith in that insight into the mechanisms by which CBD exerts these effects in future research may open new vistas for the pharmacotherapeutic prevention of relapse to drug use.
The effectiveness of the CBD to decrease reinstatement in rats with both alcohol and cocaine — and, as beforehand reported, heroin — histories forecasts therapeutic potential for addiction treatment across several classes of abused drugs.